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"Down In It" was the first single for the 1989 album Pretty Hate Machine and the third track on the disc. It has been stated by Trent Reznor that this song is the first he ever wrote and is a rare treat to hear live. Following the Down In It single release, a music video was made.
"Kinda I Want To" specifically uses this song's beat and drum patch in its bridge, while "That's What I Get" and "The Only Time" both use its recognizable melodic synth voice.
In a 1994 radio broadcast biography of Reznor, it was said that "Down In It" was inspired by a relationship that had then recently ended for him with a woman named Krissy. Reznor has openly admitted that this song "was a total rip-off of 'Dig It' by Skinny Puppy."
This version originally appeared on the Down In It single as the "Skin" mix, and would become the version that appears on Pretty Hate Machine. In chronological order, this is the first Nine Inch Nails song ever released to the general public. A different version was originally intended for the album, but the "Skin" mix was chosen instead. Since the Down In It single had been released ahead of the album and this substitution had not yet been made, it was not referred to as the original or album version on the single.
Producer Keith LeBlanc mentioned in a printed interview that "Down In It" was the song he got to "really put my signature on". His revisions (the "Shred", "Singe", and "Skin" mixes) draw heavily from the tracks "Mechanical Movements" and "Einstein" from his album Stranger Than Fiction, released earlier the same year (1989). The fast-paced synth prominent at the beginning of "Skin" is from "Mechanical Movements", and the main drum pattern is from "Einstein". Additionally, the crowd chant samples during each chorus have appeared in other tracks associated with Keith's band Tackhead, such as "Reality" by Gary Clail & Tackhead and "Stadium Rock" by The Barmy Army.
"Down In It" was the first Nine Inch Nails music video. It was directed by Eric Zimmerman and Benjamin Stokes, who also directed "Head Like A Hole." The video depicts Reznor running through downtown Chicago and climbing to the roof of a building, where he slips and falls to his death. Bandmates Richard Patrick and Chris Vrenna discover the body days later. An extended version of the video also exists, which is set to the "Shred" mix.
This was the first video to be met with controversy. To film the shots of lifeless Reznor, he was covered with cornstarch to create the illusion of decay and cameras were tied to heavy-duty balloons that were tied down. During the filming of these scenes, one of the balloons broke free and took the camera with it, drifting some 200 miles before being found by a farmer in Michigan. The camera was turned over to local police who, upon seeing the raw video footage, assumed it was a snuff film and the FBI was called in to investigate. The incident was even reported on Hard Copy and recalled in an interview for SPIN magazine. Because MTV and its US affiliates were uncomfortable with the video's subject matter, all scenes that depict Reznor's body lying on the ground behind the building were deleted.
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